White Fang Quotes

From the very beginning of his life, White Fang—the wolf-dog protagonist from Jack London’s White Fang—is faced with challenges which he must overcome, or else face death. He learns very quickly that it is only the strong that can survive in life. White Fang’s ability to live on both instincts and adaptation allowed him to survive the harsh life he was given. London states multiple times throughout the novel that the reason White Fang becomes the creature he does is because of how the hereditary “clay of him” was shaped by the experiences of life (211; ch. 17). When he is captured and domesticated by the Indians as a pup, he follows in instincts in recognizing the superior power of man, but when the other pups in the camp torment him, he

Through trickery and manipulation, White Fang ends up being sold to “a monstrosity” of a man (202; ch. 16). He resists his sale in the beginning, suffering severe beatings which bring him so near death any other dog would not have survived. The wolf-dog is again molded into a being created by circumstances; “He now became the enemy of all things, and more ferocious than ever…he hated blindly and without the faintest spark of reason” (209; 17). Pitted against dog and wolf and lynx, White Fang fought, both from hate and from the understanding that to fight is live. He knew to keep his feet was to keep his life, and had learned to move as a cat, light-footed and quick. All of his life has strengthened him for this. His puppyhood lessons of survival in the wild, his oppression by the puppy pack in the Indian camp, and the continued hatred and attacks of the dogs once they were grown taught White Fang how to

As one of the first characters seen in the novel, his experiences and responses to those experiences set up the laws of this world. Traveling across the frozen tundra with a team of sled dogs during a famine is asking for trouble. Henry, his companion, Bill, and the dog team are stalked for days by a huge pack of forty wolves. When the dogs begin to disappear, the men realize the wolves are leading them away and killing them for food. Both men recognize that they are being hunted, and they don’t have enough ammunition to fend of this pack of starved wolves. Even being surrounded by the pack for the night, Henry admonishes Bill, telling him he’s “ botherin’ too much…go to sleep,” and he does not allow the grave prospects to alter his emotions or perspective on their situation (90; ch. 1). When Bill, who is ruled by his emotions, runs out after the pack in an attempt to save the dog who was lured away and ends up dying at the fangs of the wolves, Henry knew “there was no need” to see what had occurred, so “he arose in a weary manner…and proceeded to fasten the dogs to the sled” (103; ch. 3). Henry acknowledges that Bill is dead and moves on. The man has mastered the law of the Wild and knows that all of life is a struggle and eventually everything loses, including him. Therefore, he accepts the deaths of the dogs and that of Bill without much grievance. Later,